U2 lead singer Bono recently cited rapper Kanye West as one of the artists he admires during an Associated Press interview. The revelation came on Thursday (Jan. 26) as the 45-year-old singer and activist expressed an interest in working with hip-hop music.
“I happen to be in really a truly great band, and experimentation has been the lifeblood of this band,” said Bono, who also dismissed the idea of doing a solo album. “We of course will look and are looking across at hip-hop and see the amazing innovation in the studio…”
In addition to his hip-hop desires, Bono admitted the other members of U2 were afraid his activism would take its toll on the band and their music.
“Early on they thought it would completely wipe us out, and wipe me out,” said Bono, who in Switzerland promoting a new program in which American Express, Gap and other companies will give a portion of the proceeds from specific products to efforts to fight AIDS in Africa. “They know I’m a fairly far-fetched character. But recently … they feel from our audience a sense that that’s what they would like us to be doing.”
Although he knows his band mates spiritually feel as strongly about the issues he champions as he does, Bono confesses “they just don’t like the high profile and they don’t like me hanging out with really uncool politicians.”
Nevertheless, the fact that U2 is looking into hip-hop opens new possibilities for the band.
“I don’t know where we’re going to go with all our new information and all our new friends … but it will be somewhere very special or you won’t hear about it, because there’s no reason for you to put out an album now unless it’s very special,” Bono said. “You know, we don’t need the cash.”
